Then why is it that so many salespeople constantly struggle to hit their numbers? When I refer to struggle, I’m not referring to the type of struggle a brand-new salesperson has. Struggle in the beginning of a sales career or new job is common. What I’m referring to is the sales rep that’s been around for years and is still on the rollercoaster. A good quarter followed by a bad quarter, then a great quarter followed by an awful quarter. Their sales career over the course of years and decades is like the movie Groundhog Day. The definition of insanity. They sweat out every month, are inconsistent, are let go from a company every few years due to their inconsistency, and bounce from job to job their entire career. To find out why roughly 80% of salespeople are on this constant rollercoaster for decades, let’s pull a random salesperson off the street and ask them some questions.
First: Why should I do business with you versus the competition? Can you answer these objections for me? Then proceed to give them some of the most common objections they hear currently and that they’ve probably been getting for years. Their answers should come quickly and easily while being conversational and compelling.
Second: Can you show me your schedule? Their schedule should be full of prospect and client appointments and follow-up calls.
Third: How many phone calls and/or in-person calls do you need to make to hit your annual sales goal? How many is that per day? How many calls did you make last week?
Fourth: What is the name of the last sales book you read, sales video or audio series you watched or listened to, or last sales course or class you took and how long ago was that?
Most salespeople will fail the above test miserably. They continue to struggle year after year because their answers to the above questions will be the same year after year. Groundhog Day insanity.
In my experience, the salespeople who continue to struggle, like the ones I referred to above, do so because they either don’t put in the necessary hours and/or, they spend their time working on the wrong things. There are two causes for this, one: the fear and discomfort of hard work, and two: the fear and discomfort of rejection.
For many people, any task that is even slightly unpleasant or uncomfortable, like most ‘work’ tasks, translates into hard work. So, any time they are working, they feel weighed down mentally. This negatively affects their attitude and their energy level. That said, I know plenty of salespeople who are willing to put in the hours, but they avoid tasks that potentially lead to rejection. In other words, they have no problem with paperwork, checking e-mail one thousand times a day, spending three hours on social media, or working on their call, but making phone calls or knocking on doors to talk to people about their product or service is a Herculean feat of strength for them. If they are going to overcome this they need to come up with a compelling reason to endure the pain and discomfort, and they need to resolve to take the tried-and-true path to success.
Let’s talk about the tried-and-true path to success first. We already talked about what it takes to be successful in the first paragraph: doing the work necessary to acquire the proper skills followed by talking to enough people about that you have to offer. The people who struggle throughout their sales career are super-creative when it comes to avoiding both of these. They are constantly looking for the magic bullet, the shortcut to avoid hard work and rejection. They grab ahold of the latest fad, the latest get-successful-quick scheme, or the latest book that promises fewer hours, less work, and no more cold calling. These same people spam e-mail people, spend hours daily on social media, and go to the same networking events and talk to the same people week after week, month after month, and year after year. Even after years of chasing the shortcut and continuing to struggle, most still haven’t learned the lesson: The shortcut isn’t the shortcut, it’s the long, hard way where you continue to struggle. Even the author of the book touting the four-hour work week put in 16-hour days promoting the book. Solution: Resolve to follow the tried-and-true path.
Next, find a compelling reason to go through the pain and discomfort necessary for success. In my mental toughness training we look for what is most meaningful to an individual. We look for what they will fight for and what they will die for. It may be for your kids, your parents, to prove yourself, or whatever reasons motivate you at a deep level. Whatever it is, you have to find purpose and meaning behind the pain. Something that will sustain you when times are tough. As Zig Ziglar used to say, the harder you are on yourself, the easier life will be on you. That said, the opposite is also true. If life senses a weakness in you, a lack of resolve to do the necessary work for success, it will exploit the hell out of that weakness and keep you down so it’s imperative that you find your WHY.
Many times people who try to cheat the system and shortcut success hide behind the guise of working smart. Of course you want to work smart, but smart work is built on a foundation of hard work. The hard work, pain, and discomfort required to acquire the skills and make the calls, is the foundation. Without the foundation, there is no successful career. So, commit to pay the price. Commit to the process of doing the hard work, overcoming the fear and discomfort, acquiring the skills, and talking to lots of people.
John Chapin is a motivational sales speaker, coach, and trainer. For his free eBook: 30 Ideas to Double Sales and monthly article, or to have him speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 32 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia (Axiom Book Awards). You can reprint provided you keep contact information in place. E-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
